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Chinese Authorities Formally Arrest Zhang Lin

March 22, 2005

Chinese authorities formally arrested Zhang Lin for inciting the subversion of state power, reports Agence France Presse (AFP). Public security authorities evidently informed Fang Caofang, Zhang's wife, about the move on March 19. As the CECC noted in its 2004 Annual Report, Chinese authorities often use vague and overbroad national security laws to silence critics of the Party and the central government. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported on February 8 that Chinese authorities had informed Fang Caofang that Zhang had been ordered to serve two weeks administrative detention. According to RSF, security authorities arrested Zhang on January 29 in Bengbu, Anhui province, for posting articles on various Web sites. RSF subsequently reported that, just as Zhang was to be released from administrative detention, Chinese police told Fang Caofang that they were holding Zhang in "criminal detention" for threatening state security.